


Unwanted (Prologue)

by Elite_7



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst and Feels, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 14:59:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19814695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elite_7/pseuds/Elite_7
Summary: Rayla and Callum had just returned Zym to his mother, the dragon queen, and were on their way back when they meet someone from the princes past.





	Unwanted (Prologue)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MikeMcGee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikeMcGee/gifts).



> So this is gonna be made into a story but for now I want to know how you all think of it. Also i combined day 3 through day 14 of Rayllum month so i hope you enjoy it Mike!

Rayla quietly runs her fingers over his scarf. The scarf that had been hand knitted by the late Queen Sarai for the young prince’s birthday. It held a special place in his heart. It still does. The flowers that sat on her nightstand were budding in the sunset. They were handpicked by her favorite human. He had gone and found blue roses by himself days ago, and how she scolded him for injuring his hands. It was still fresh in her mind.

The fireflies were coming out to play. They would come and visit as often as they could be. Come winter, they would be foolish to come out unless they want to freeze. Callum had showed her them in Xadia once. She never forgets her memories with him. She wanted to follow in his footsteps and show the future generations the beauty of the human kingdoms.

But this stupid illness that she had suddenly caught had placed her on bedrest. To Ezran it was for her own safety. To her though; it was cruel and unusual punishment.

She should be leading the search party. Not General Amaya.

It has been weeks since his disappearance. The kingdom has been at war with each other. They weren’t acceptable with a young king, but they were starting to calm down around elves. It made Rayla uneasy. Not having Callum present during her illness has been tough.

Has he come to terms with his dad? Has he accepted his fate? The thoughts were overwhelming Rayla enough for her to get out of bed and shoot for the bathroom. The sudden downpour and a distant sound of horns muted the elves noises.

Minutes later Rayla returns to find a bottle of Moonberry juice placed on her nightstand. Taking a sip, she felt warmth spread across her body. Her heart pounds in her chest as a single note was taped onto the bottle.

_He’s safe._

It was the first night in a long time that she could sleep.

\---[--]---

_Callum runs into the rain, not bothering to look behind him at whoever it was. He just wants to live another day without someone trying to kill him. His damn life was a mess. It did not need to be messier with his blood._

_“Aye, c’mere you little scumbag!” the voice from behind was closer and Callum could hear dogs barking on his left._

_The downpour wasn’t in Callum’s favor. He would die if he ends up slipping on the mud. Heck. He’s gonna die anyway rather he likes it or not. His father knew what would happen to his son, and he still let his mom keep him. He’s a freak. A no-good prince. A nobody._

_He sees Rayla appear ahead of him and proceeds to tackle him to the ground. His elfin instincts took over and the boy dodges her. She slams into the ground with a loud THUD! It made Callum’s attacker stop._

_Rayla had found him and he had hurt her. She was happy to see him, but he wasn’t sure if she was really herself. The last time he saw her was a couple weeks ago. She had discovered his elvan side and had turned on him._

_Rayla would never turn on him. Right?_

_“Callum!” Somebody screams into his ear._

The SkyWing halfling bolts up into a sitting position in cold sweat. His lungs burned. His heart couldn’t slow itself down. Tears were already running down his cheeks.

“Hey hey hey. Its going to be okay sketchy.” A strong soothing voice enters his hearing.

“Rayla?” Callum calls out but his elvan friend didn’t answer. In fact, she was nowhere to be seen.

“She’s back at the castle, son.” The male voice whispers.

Callum wipes his tears in hopes to fix his eyesight. It made his vision blurry. All he could see was a small fire in front of him and a tall elf kneeling on his right. The elf beside him drenched a cool cloth on the boy’s head.

“Wh-why would she leave me?” the prince’s lip quivers, trying to remember his last memory. “What is happening!”

“Callum, you need to breathe.” The calm voice quiets the trembling boy with one sentence. The sentence that his mother use to say.

Callum closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. He does these three or four more times before he was able to remember anything. The voice sounded older than he remembers. Totally not Harrow.

“You had a nightmare. A cruel one yes?” The tall elf asks to a still confused prince. Callum nods. The elf sighs. “That happens a lot when you experience something traumatic.”

Callum finds himself staring at an older version of himself. The only difference was the grey eyes staring back at him and that he was taller than Rayla. It made Callum’s eyes widen as unwanted memories emerge from the shadows. This man-

A cold chill went down his back. How?

Callum stood straight up. The fast movement send Callum’s head spinning. Dizziness came and went. The elf on his right had kept him from falling over.

The boy needs to escape. He needs to find Rayla. He refuses to listen to anything that this man says. The elf wasn’t in his life like Harrow was. No father was like Harrow.

“Whoa there.”

“G-Get away from me!” Callum screams as he struggles to get out of his _father’s_ arms. “You’re not Harrow!”

“Of course, I’m not.” Sadly, admits the elf who releases the halfling.

Callum trips on his own feet but he picks himself back up. His legs were hurting but he forced himself to continue running. His elven ears have picked up a blowing of a horn. His gut made him go towards the horn. He kept on tripping on logs and trigs. He even cut himself when he fell on a bush of thorns. His wings kept on getting stuck in branches. Feathers were in his wake.

“Halt in the name of King Ezran!” came a voice that Callum thought he would never hear again.

The elf emerges from a thorny bush. His clothes were ripped and bloody from the open wounds. The halfling raises his arms in surrender when Soren fails to recognize him. His heart did flips when a familiar strawberry blond hair man joins his crown guard. Gren.

A small gasp escapes Callum’s mouth as he looks down to see a thorn embedded into his torso. His vision blurs. He eyes the two men with a look that only he could pull off. The beginning of the jerk face dance. Even though it was painful, Callum did the dance that would guarantee win.

When he was finished with his dance. The halfling knocks himself out by slamming into a tree. The sound of his name being called out by his friends was on loop.

Into the darkness he goes.

\---[--]---

Rayla tries to keep her sobs at a minimum when she spots Callum laying in her bed one morning. His healed cuts and bruises, a reminder of the pain he had gone through when he transitioned from human to elf. A painful reminder of the emptiness she had felt throughout the weeks of him not being present. She had mentally scolded herself for thinking that he was dead at week four of his absence.

It was hard on both her and Ezran. Every time Opeli mentioned the princes name, it felt like a huge boulder hit them in the stomach. By week four, the kingdom thought all hope was lost and began to mourn the prince. Until that day when Soren and Gren found him or was it the other way around?

Rayla didn’t care. She had her dumb hu- halfling back. As crazy as it sounds. She likes Callum’s elven form. She still rather has him as a human though. His face was still the same minus the markings on his cheeks and arms. She finds herself grabbing his hand and smiling as she still finds five fingers instead of four.

Callum stirs beside her and squeezes her hands. He opens one eye and smiles weekly at her. His eyes were puffy and red from crying. They had a hint of dark circles under them as well.

“Hello elvan prince.” Rayla says moving his hair out of his eyes with her free hand. Ever since he had turned into an elf, his hair had gotten longer. She needs to get him a haircut when he’s up to it.

“Hello elvan princess.” He murmurs closing his eye again. “So warm.” He mumbles tugging the blanket away from her and turning onto his other side. He couldn’t see Rayla’s red face.

“Princess?” She begins to tease as she tries to take back the blanket from him.

Callum turns his face towards her again and smiles a goofy grin. “Ya have a problem with that?”

“Nah. Do _you_ have a problem with that?”

“Nada.” He says turning his back on her again.

Rayla pretty much sees his ears turn red afterwards as she too falls asleep once more.

\---[--]----

“What happened to my face!”

“You ran into a tree, step-prince.” Soren says coolly as he leans on the wall.

Callum rolls his eyes at his friend. He has been trying to piece together his elven skills with his human skills. So far, running into a tree was a good start according to Soren. Being a halfing was still baffling to Callum but he was getting the hang of it.

They were at the courtyard where Rayla was waiting for them. They were going to do some training. Rayla wanted to help Callum learn about his elven side. That met having her fathers and uncle there too to watch. The boy was sure to fail.

“Catch me if you can sucker!” Rayla’s voice surprises them all as she leaps on top of Soren’s shoulders and bounces on walls.

“Callum use your wings to catch her!” Uncle Elton cries cupping his hands in front of his mouth.

“Wow thanks Elton I did not think about that.” Callum rolls his eyes as he tries to flap his arms where his wings spread to. “Like I know how to fly!”

“You know how to fly. You just haven’t felt the wind in your face yet.” A new voice enters the training yard. Callum raises an eyebrow at the newcomer. Is he supposed to remember this guy?

“And you are-?” The halfling asks staring at the newcomer.

“You forgot already?”

“Aye Cal, its your pops!” Rayla says landing gently on her two feet and moving to stand beside her friend.

“Call me Apollo.” The elf smiles softly as he faces Callum. His son’s eyes widen in shock. “Let’s not go-“  


Callum socks him in the jaw. The sudden change made Rayla flinch and Runaan and Tinker were surprised. Elton looks between them all in confusion.

“Callum!” his assassin friend cries in shock.

“What the actual fu-“ Soren yells but he was interrupted.

“Language young man!” Snaps Runaan as he helps Apollo off the dusty floor.

The young halfling holds his bleeding hand as he looks at the man who claims to be his father. It felt good. Callum looks at his father with coldness in his eyes.

“You left mom when we needed you most. You didn’t even bother showing up when mom died!” He cries turning and running off.

Rayla follows him without as much as a glance at Apollo. She was concern for her best friend.

Apollo holds his jaw and chuckles a little. “I suppose I deserved that.” He mumbles spitting out a tooth earning a disgusted groan from Soren. “Haven’t been in his life much.”

“Word of advice for you Apollo. Don’t turn out like Rayla’s parents.” Tinker mutters.

The SkyWing took the advice to heart.

\--[---]----

Callum sits on top of a tree where he could overlook the entire castle. He feels nothing but cold feet at the mention of his father. Apollo left him and his mother. He left him without knowing what his future would look like. He was a coward.

“Is this seat taken?” His elf companion startles him from his thoughts. Rayla stood beside him as if waiting for permission to sit down.

“You’re occupying it so yes.” Came his only reply as he feels her shoulders press against his.

“Let me see that hand.” Rayla’s voice startles him once more but he shows her his bloody knuckles. She takes his hand gently and begins to clean the wounds. “So why do you hate your pops so much?”

“It’s complicated.” The boy mutters turning to look anywhere other than her face.

“I have time.”

“Fine.” He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand. “My dad met my mom secretly and I mean illegally. 9 months later I was born. I was a halfling and in those days there were laws stating that the halflings were to be killed. Even those who were in government and in the military. Ow!” He whines as Rayla puts a healing herb on his knuckles.

“You’re such a baby. Go on.” She says putting a hand on his knee for support.

Callum inhales. “My dad came up with a powerful illusion that would make me human. After he casted the illusion, he left without a trace. Mom didn’t know where he went. She only knew that I was now a human child and her affairs with an elf never been noticed. Until sixteen years later.” He looks at her with a warm smile. He places his hand on top of the one on his knee. “I never needed a father like him. I have Harrow. I don’t need a coward in my life again.”

“Sixteen years and you never thought about asking your aunt about him?” Rayla asks raising an eyebrow.

“I was a _week_ old when he left, so I wouldn’t even remember being half elf. Aunt Amaya didn’t know of her sisters affair when I asked her.”

“You need accept him into your life again, Cal.”

“Pardon me?”

“You heard me!” Rayla turns to face him fully. “Don’t make the same mistake I did with my parents. I regret it every day.”

Callum was silent for a while. His eyes narrow. The view from the trees of the sunset castes a shadow on Katolis. He _wants_ to forgive his father, but a voice keeps telling him no.

“I’ll try.” He whispers quietly staring at the sunset as his wings wrap around his friends’ arms. He feels her lips on his cheek as she lays her head on his. Their horns make a gentle ping.

“The scene is beautiful.” Rayla whispers.

_Yeah it is._ Callum would silently agrees stealing a glance at her.


End file.
